Mumbai, Dec 2 (PTI) Finland Ambassador to India Kimmo Lahdevirta on Tuesday expressed hope that the "soon-to-be-concluded" Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India and the European Union will be a game-changer for his country's partnership with Maharashtra state, which accounts for nearly one-third of the total Finnish companies in the country.

Lahdevirta, who led a high-level delegation of Finnish companies on a strategic two-day visit to Mumbai on December 1-2, also said that the two sides share a long-standing and forward-looking partnership built on sustainability, innovation, and trust.

The visit was aimed at strengthening Finland's investment and trade partnership with India, leveraging the rapid progress in India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations to open new and vital avenues for collaboration between Finnish expertise and India's development priorities, a statement said.

"Finland and Maharashtra share a long-standing and forward-looking partnership built on sustainability, innovation, and trust. Our commitment here is tangible: we have about 100 Finnish companies actively doing business here in India, of which about 30 are headquartered in Maharashtra, and we quite recently established the Consulate General in Mumbai," Lahdevirta said.

"During this visit, we witnessed strong commitment from both sides to deepen cooperation in areas such as clean technology, circular economy and digitalisation. The hopefully soon-to-be-concluded India-EU FTA will be a game-changer for this partnership, and we are here to lay the groundwork now, to ensure Finland stands ready to work closely with India in advancing a more resource-efficient and climate-resilient future," he said.

India and Finland share a robust and rapidly expanding commercial relationship, underscored by an annual trade volume of around 3- billion Euro, as per the statement.

On November 25, the External Affairs Ministry in a statement had said India and the European Union reaffirmed their shared ambition to conclude negotiations on the free trade agreement by the end of this year and vowed to work jointly towards a free, open, inclusive and prosperous Indo-Pacific.

Maharashtra was highlighted as a critical point of entry and a key catalyst for bolstering regional trade and future B2B and B2G engagement in Western India, the Finnish embassy said in the statement.

The delegation, led by the Ambassador, visited the Ministry of Industries, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and also met with the Minister of Skills, Entrepreneurship, Employment and Innovation Mangal Prabhat Lodha, it said.

It also said that the engagement reinforced the outcomes of the recent 13th Foreign Office Consultations last month, where India and Finland reaffirmed high-priority cooperation in emerging technologies, positioning the DESI- Digitalization, Education, Sustainability, and Innovation - approach as a blueprint for the next phase of collaboration..

The visit incorporated a series of meetings designed to successfully connect Finnish businesses directly with Indian businesses and government institutions. PTI IAS MR

India-EU FTA could transform Finland India trade, unlocking collaboration in cleantech, circular economy, digitalisation and investment. The imminent India-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is expected to transform Finland-India commercial relations by expanding market access, facilitating investment, and opening avenues for cooperation in clean technology, circular economy and digitalisation, with Maharashtra positioned as a strategic regional entry point and the DESI framework guiding future collaboration.